PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Afferent Nerve Fiber, Retina, Wilhelm Wundt

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jill L Atkinson

Document Summary

Sensation: physiological process that underlies transformation of chemical, mechanical, light, and sound energy in the world into electrical activity in the brain. Perception: psychological process, the selection, organization, and interpretation of sensations as meaningful objects and events. Transduction: conversion of physical energy into electrical potential signals in sensory receptors cells (specialized neurons) in response to physical stimuli. Brain has no access to the physical stimulus itself. Signals are conveyed to the brain through neural firing. Each receptor varies its responses to stimuli that differ quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative changes: the changes in the magnitude of a stimulus (e. g. intensity of a sound or light, perceived as loudness or brightness) Qualitative changes: changes in the type of stimulus energy (e. g. frequency of sound or wavelength of light, perceived as different pitches or colors) Sensing light and its reflections of surfaces with the eyes.